Can carriers



R. M. DUNNING May l0, 1960 CAN CARRIERS Filed NOV. 8, 1957 United States Patent O CAN CARRIERS Robert M. Dunning, St.'` Paul, Minn., assignor to Waldorf Paper Products Co., Ramsey County, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application November s, 1957, serial No. 695,398

Claims. (Cl. 206-65) This invention relates to an improvement in can :carriers and deals particularly with a sleeve used for containing a series of cans.

During the recent trend toward unitizing a 'serieshof packages into a single package many types `of 'cartons have been produced for containing a series of cans. Perhaps the most common of these carriers are the cartons for containing six cans of beer or some other liquid. The present inventionrelates to a package for this purpose which is economical to construct and which uses relatively little paper board.

Various types of packages have been produced having flanges foldablyconnected to the ends of a sleeve, the flanges being foldable in a manner' to form a partial enclosure for the' sleeve to hold the cans in the sleeve. While such packages have been successfully employed, they have the difficulty of requiring somewhat more paper board than other types of sleeves which have been used. Sleeves of this type have normally been the full length of the row of cans and the anges at the end of the sleeve add to the necessary length thereof. A purpose of the present invention is to provide a carton of the same general type but which need not be much longer than the length of the row of cans.

A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of ya can sleeve having flanges hingedly connected to the end edges along lines parallel to the axis of the cans. These flanges are folded at an acute angle to the walls on which they are hinged thus generally following the contour of the cans at the ends of the sleeve. As a result, the sleeve need not be of greater length than the row of cans as the fold lines hingedly connecting the flaps to the side walls may be positioned at a point only slightly beyond the centers of the last cans of the series.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a carton having flanges which may be held in place without requiring adhesive. Flanges are connected to all of the walls of the sleeve Iat each end thereof and the walls which extend over the ends of the cans are folded back into surface contact with the Walls from which they are hinged and are connected to the side wall flanges along diagonally creased gusset aps. As the ends of the cans hold the inturned flanges from unfolding, the gusset flaps hold the side wall flanges at the proper angle to the walls from which they are hinged.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawings forming a part of the specification.

Figure l is a perspective view of the carton in can containing position,

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the package showing the position of the cans in dotted outline.

Figure 3 is a sectional view on a vertical plane through the empty package, the position of the section being indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

2,936,069 Patented May 10, .1960

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2 f Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the blank from which the sleeve is formed. The carton is indicated in general by the and is designed :to containa series of cans B. In the particular arrangement illustrated, the carton is designed to contain six cans which are arranged in three rows of two side by side cans.

The carton A is shown as including a top panel 10, a

side wall panel 11, a bottom panel 12, a side wall panel 13, anda top panel "14 which are consecutively connected along parallel fold lines 15, 16, 17, and 19. In the cornpleted form of the package, the top panels 10 and 14 are arranged to overlap and to be adhered together."

The various panels are provided with marginal anges connected to the panels along parallel fold lines 20 and 21. The top panel 10 includes a flange 22 of a length equal to half the width of the bottom panel 12 'and connected thereto along the fold line 20. The panel'101is provided with a similar flange 23 connected thereto along the fold line 21. The side wall panel 11 is foldably con: nected to lianges` 24 and 25. The bottom panel 12 is foldably connected to a flange 26 along the fold line 20 and a similar ange 27 along the fold line 21. The side wall 13 is foldably connected along the same fold lines to flanges 29 and 30. The top panel 14 is foldably connected to anges 31 and 32.

The flaps 22 and 23 are divided into two sections by fold lines 33 and 34 which extend in a diagonal direction from the juncture between the fold line 15 and the fold lines 20 and 21. The angle at which theV fold lines, 33 and 34 extend determines the angle at `which the. flanges 24 and 25 willlextendfrom the panel 11. Asan example, if it is desired that the flanges 2 4and 25' converge inwardly at an angle of 45 from the side walls of the carton, the fold lines 33 and 34 are arranged at e one-half of this angle or 2121/2" from .the fold lines 20 and 21. The other top panel 14 is provided with similar diagonally extending fold lines 35 and36 which extend from the juncture between the fold line'19 and the fold line 20 and 21,

In a similar manner, the anges 26 and 27 of the bottom panel 12 are divided into three parts each by diagonal fold lines 37 and 39 extending from the junctures between the fold line 16 yand the fold lines 20 and 21 and fold lines 40 and 41 which emanate from the junction between the fold line 17 and the fold lines 20 and 21. Obviously, if the glue joint is located at some other point, and if the carton were provided with a single top panel, the fold lines in the top panel would be similar to those in the bottom panel.

As a result of this arrangement, the flanges 22 `and 23 are divided into an anchoring portion 42, 43 and a gusset connecting portion 44, 45.Y The flanges 31 and 32 of the cover panel v14 also are divided to include an anchoring portion 46, 47, and a gusset portion 49, 50. The bottom panel 12 is divided into central anchoring portions 51, 52, and gusset portions 53, 54 at one end and gusset portions 55, 56 at the other end.

The carton A is usually wrapped about the cans B and locked or glued together. In doing this, the anchoring portions 51, 52 of the bottom panel 12 are folded to overlie the adjoining portions of the bottom panel 12 While the gusset portions 53, 55 overlie portions of the anchoring flap 51 and the gusset portions 54, 56 overlie portions of the `anchoring portion 52. This folding is usually done simultaneously with the folding of the side walls 11, 13 into right angular relation with the bottom panel 12. I'Ihe top panels 10,V 14 are then folded to overlie the upper ends of the cans, and the anchoring portions 42, 43 are folded to llie beneath the panel 10 while the gusset portions 44, 45 lie beneath the anchoring portions 42, 43. In a similar manner, the anchoring letter I Ai portions 46, 47 are folded to underlie the end portions of the top panel 14 and the gusset connecting portions 49 and 50 underlie portions of the flanges 46, 47. The top panels and 14 overlap in this position and may be secured together by adhesive or by suitable locks if this is preferred. When this folding operation is completed, the carton is appears as indicated in Figure 1 of the drawings, the cans being prevented from leaving the open ends of the sleeve by the inturned flanges at each sleeve end.

v In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of construction and operation of my can carton, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that obvious changes maybe rnade within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim: y

1. A can package'in combination with a row of cans arranged in tangential contact and including a sleeve having four walls foldably connected together, two of the walls extending along opposite sides of the cans of the row and the other two'walls overlying the ends of the cans, anges foldably connected to the ends of the walls overlying the sides of the can and extending outwardly at an acute angle to the walls to which they are hinged, said flanges on opposite sides of said sleeve extending in outwardly converging relation, gusset flaps foldably connected to the ends of said ilanges and anchoring aps foldably connected to the marginal edge of the walls overlying the ends of the cans, said anchoring flaps lying between the walls to which they are hinged and the adjoining ends of the cans, and said gusset flaps lying between the anchoring llaps to which they are hinged and the ends of the cans.

2. The structure described in claim 1 and in which the flanges hingedly connected to the walls overlying the sides of the cans are arranged at substantially 45 to the wallsto which they are hinged.

3. The construction described in claim l and in which one of the walls overlying the ends of the cans include a pair of panels secured together.

4. A can carrier in combination with a series of cans arranged in two rows of side by side cans substantially in tangential contact and in combination with the cans, the carton comprising a generally rectangular sleeve including two parallel panels designed to extend on opposite sides of the rows of cans and two parallel walls overlying the ends of the cans, the Iside and end walls being foldably connected together, anges hingedly connected to the ends of the sides and folded outwardly at an acute angle thereto, the flanges at opposite ends of the sleeve converging together, |generally triangular gusset aps foldably connected to the ends of said flanges, and anchoring aps foldably connected to the edges of said walls overlying the ends of the cans and foldably connected to said gusset aps, said anchoring aps being folded to lie between the walls overlying the ends of the cans and the can ends, and said gusset flaps folded between said anchoring aps and the ends of the cans.

5. A can package in combination with a row of cans in substantially tangential contact, the package including a sleeve of generally rectangular form including a pair of side walls overlying the sides of the cans and a pair of end walls overlying the, ends of the cans, and an end closure for one end of said sleeve including flanges foldably connected to said side walls and converging outwardly toward one another at an acute angle to said side walls from which they are hinged, generally triangular gussct aps foldably connected to the ends of said flanges, and anchoring aps foldably secured to said end walls and foldably connected to said gusset aps, said anchoring flaps being folded inwardly of said end walls to lie between said end walls and the ends of said cans, and said gusset aps folded to lie between said anchoring flaps and the ends of said cans, said gusset flaps folding said flanges in converging relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,571,833 Chidsey Oct. 16, 1951 2,713,450 Williamson July 19, 1955 2,751,075 Arneson June 19, 1956 l2,832,182 McGihon Apr. 29, 1958 

